London - 12th June 2014 - Skyscape Cloud Services Limited, the easy to adopt, easy to use and easy to leave cloud services company, today announced that it has joined the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), a not-for-profit organisation which aims to develop and promote best practice for providing security assurance within cloud computing, and to provide education on the uses of cloud computing to help secure all other forms of computing.

Skyscape's full range of assured cloud services have been specifically designed to meet the needs of the public sector market and have achieved the highest possible Pan Government Accreditation (PGA) status from CESG (The National Technical Authority for Information Assurance) - up to and including Impact Level (IL) 3.  Skyscape's accredited services are available to the 30,000 UK public sector organisations via the Government's G-Cloud Framework.

"Like any reputable cloud services provider, security and customer confidence is crucial to our business, which is why we are proud to be joining an internationally recognised organisation which promotes education and best practice for providing security assurance in the cloud" said John Godwin, Head of Compliance and Information Assurance at Skyscape Cloud Services.  "As the perceived risks associated with data in cloud environments remain a concern among the buying community - and are one of the greatest inhibitors to cloud adoption - all responsible suppliers should be focusing on building trust with their customers, by demonstrating their security credentials and continually improving the selection and implementation of security controls."

Godwin continued:  "While we have already successfully achieved ISO27001 certification and our services are Pan Government Accredited to IL3, we have recognised the benefits of joining the CSA and adopting the Cloud Controls Matrix.  This will provide additional assurance to all of our UK public sector customers that we take their data security requirements very seriously, and demonstrates our continued commitment to identifying and adopting evolving best practice."

The CSA's Cloud Controls Matrix (CCM) is specifically designed to provide fundamental security principles to guide cloud service providers and to assist prospective buyers in evaluating the overall security risks.  Skyscape will further assess its existing security controls against the CCM in order to validate their effective implementation and to further improve customer confidence.

"We are delighted that Skyscape has joined the Cloud Security Alliance," said Daniele Catteddu, Managing Director, EMEA and OCF-STAR Programme Director of the CSA.  "We welcome the company's security expertise and commitment to supporting our ongoing research and education initiatives, which will improve security standards and encourage cloud adoption across the board."

Following an upcoming independent assessment, Skyscape also aims to be listed on the CSA's Security, Trust & Assurance Registry (STAR) programme - a publicly accessible registry that lists the security controls offered by various cloud services providers - in the near future.

Earlier this week, Skyscape was certified on the new Cyber Essentials Scheme developed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and CESG. This Scheme builds upon the "10 Steps to Cyber Security", published by the Government in 2012 to help organisations and senior executives understand and implement a corporate risk programme.  The Scheme was launched on Thursday 5 June and following an independent assessment Skyscape is one of the very first organisations to achieve formal Cyber Essentials certification - an achievement which provides further testimony to Skyscape's commitment to security.